The history of internet outages

Disabling the internet is also a go-to method for government censorship, both for authoritarian governments and stable democracies. "It's a pretty massive problem," says Zach Rosson, a data analyst at Access Now, a digital rights advocacy group. "By our definition, there have been over 1,500 internet shutdowns since 2016", by governments, militaries and police forces.

In fact, the CrowdStrike disaster shadowed an example that began the same day. Bangladesh faced near total internet blackout after a government shutdown in response to violent clashes between protesting students and police. The online cutoff has been accompanied by a curfew and reporters say the lack of internet access makes accurate information harder to come by. At least 150 people have been killed in the clashes, with some local media putting the figure much higher.

There's a growing push to understand internet access as a human right. "Think about all the things it gives you access to: employment, healthcare, education, communication, business and just understanding the world around you. We've found that internet shutdowns actually impede humanitarian delivery and prevent the documentation of atrocities," Rosson says.

India is probably the world leader in using internet shutdowns to quell unrest, but it's a widespread tactic that's been deployed in at least 83 countries including Iran, Russia, Algeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Cameroon and Venezuela, according to Access Now. 

The big one

In places where the internet connection depends on one fibre-optic cable, it makes for a glaring Achilles heel. After decades of the internet worming its way into every corner of our lives through wires and WiFi connections, you might think there would be more built-in fail-safes to keep the world churning. But largely the opposite is true, according to Casey Oppenheim, chief executive at Disconnect, a cybersecurity company.